Ontario voters would turf McGuinty: poll

TORONTO — Voters in Ontario are looking for change, and if an election was held tomorrow, they would bid adieu to Premier Dalton McGuinty and the Liberals, according to a poll.

The poll, done by Ipsos Reid exclusively for Postmedia News and Global News, found that 41 per cent of respondents who were decided voters said they would elect the provincial Progressive Conservatives, under leader Tim Hudak, if the election took place now.

The Liberals trailed behind with 32 per cent support; the NDP with 20 per cent; and the Green party with seven per cent.

“It continues a trend that we started to see a number of months ago, where we’d be looking at a majority government in Ontario for the Progressive Conservatives,” said John Wright, a pollster with Ipsos Reid.

In September, a similar Ipsos Reid survey found that three out of four respondents said they wanted to vote the current government out of office.

What is interesting, said Wright, is that the Liberals are now behind the Conservatives by nine points. In the summer of 2009, the Liberals were ahead by 14 points.

A lot of the support has been lost in the Greater Toronto Area, which has traditionally voted Liberal.

Forty per cent of respondents in the GTA indicated they would vote for the Tories and 33 per cent for the Liberals.

Wright said he wouldn’t necessarily draw a connection between the poll results and the recent mayoral race, where Toronto voted overwhelmingly for conservative Rob Ford, but said it is an indication of the public’s desire for someone new to lead the provincial government.

“Toronto has been very red for the last seven years and we are now seeing a significant shift for the Liberals here,” he said. “The McGuinty government has clearly had a legacy of two terms, and not all of it is good.”

In the past year, the Liberal government, in place since 2003, has come under fire for a number of unpopular policies. McGuinty has been forced to backtrack on some of them.

He reversed his decision on a controversial eco-fees scheme that saw more taxes being levied against some green household products, cancelling them outright last month following a public outcry.

He’s also reversed his decisions regarding a new sex -education curriculum for Ontario schools and banning mixed-martial arts in the province. This year, the Liberals also introduced the highly unpopular harmonized sales tax.

Last week, he announced a 10 per cent deduction in electricity rates for Ontario residents, but later revealed that it will be used to offset the anticipated 46 per cent increase over five years. The Opposition charged it as a bribery tactic used to win votes in the upcoming election in October.

Wright said Ontario seems to be on a trend of “anti-incumbency,” which could means McGuinty does not survive to serve a third term.

“(Tim) Hudak isn’t well known across the province but he has been darn consistent about his message,” he said. “He has sang the same tune all this time and that tune is resonating with voters.”

The poll randomly conducted telephone surveys of 801 respondents from Nov. 2-18. The results are believed to be accurate within plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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